Winning back LYBUNT donors (gave last year, not yet this year)

LYBUNT is a classic fundraising term: Last Year But Unfortunately Not This year. These are proven supporters — people who already gave — who simply haven't been asked yet this time. No prospecting list converts better, and Pledgix builds this list for you.

Prerequisite: history

Win-back lists come from comparing past giving to current giving, so your campaign needs past-years data loaded first — see "Adding past years' giving data." Once history is in, two tools surface your LYBUNTs.

Option 1: the Profile Center (Managers and Owners)

Open your campaign, choose Donor Relations in the sidebar, then People:

1. Set the giving filter to Not yet this year.
2. Optionally set trajectory to Lapsed — people with history who missed the most recent year — or click a Gift Pyramid band such as $1K–5K to focus on a capacity level.
3. Sort by expected amount, so the biggest opportunities are on top.
4. Click Save this view and name it — for example, "Major LYBUNTs — never called".

Because segments are living lists, everyone who donates drops off automatically. From the saved segment you can push straight to a calling session or print paper call sheets.

The Call Next queue (opened from its card on the Home tab) is the same idea pre-built: it only ever shows people who haven't given this year, never-called first, biggest suggested asks on top, with do-not-call numbers already removed.

Option 2: Historical Intelligence gap analysis

The Historical Intelligence tab (under Analytics; included on Pledgix Pro and Political plans — the Pledgix team can enable it for other campaigns on request) analyzes one past-year upload at a time and classifies every person:

• Hot Lead — gave that year, has given nothing to this campaign. These are your LYBUNTs.
• Partial — has given something, but less than before. The gap amount shows how much is left to recover.
• Retained — gave as much or more than before. Say thank you.

Filter to Hot Leads, sort by gap amount, and you have a ranked recovery list. You can Export it as a spreadsheet, and campaign Owners can push the hot leads directly into a Call Center session. Managers can review and export the analysis — uploading and syncing the data, like the Call Center push, is Owner-only — so if you're a Manager, push your calling list from the Profile Center instead.

Track recovery as you go

The Profile Center's War Room view shows a live LYBUNT Recovery meter — how many lapsed donors have been recovered versus how many are still open — so a phone-night team can watch the win-back rate climb in real time.

Making the calls count

• Lead with last year. "Last year you gave $360 and it did X" is the strongest opening line in fundraising — and it's on every profile and call sheet.
• Aim to recover, not stretch. For lapsed donors, the suggested ask targets their best year — getting them back to what they once gave — with the reasoning shown.
• Log the outcome. Record the ask and its result (Pledged, Gave, Follow Up, Declined) so the list stays honest and no one is double-called.

Tip: Work LYBUNTs top-down by capacity. Recovering ten lapsed $1,000 donors moves more than a hundred lapsed $18 donors — the Gift Pyramid filter makes the triage effortless.